pink sky there in the pace in's capital, washington, d.c. and welcome back, everybody. just about 1 minute before the top of the hour. we wrap it up as always with best advice. >> we asked reality show star big ang from "mob wives" about the best advice she ever received. i tell you, she's a woman of few words. >> you pay for what you get. >> you pay for what you get. >> don't need to tell me that twice. i always heard you get what you pay for. >> i'm alina cho. >> i'm christine romans. "starting point" with john berman and brooke baldwin starts right now. >> good morning, good to be with you on this tuesday. i'm brooke baldwin. >> i'm john berman.

soledad is off this morning. starting point, immigration reform. hours away from president obama revealing his plan, and already one portion causing a lot of controversy. also this is tough stuff to look at here. this x games star, oh, in the fight of his life after this crash. what happened that sent him careening down the mountain? and an american mother, missing in turkey this morning, the woman's friends and family speaking out and stepping up their desperate search. we're talking immigration reform with illinois senator dirk durbin, and tennessee congresswoman marsha blackburn, new jersey senator bob menendez. that coming up. and if you have seen the movie, director and screen writer of "silver linings playbook," david o. russell joining us. >> the "o" may stand for on the way to winning an oscar.

"starting point" begins right now. here we are a matter of hours from president obama unveiling his plan. his proposals here to reform immigration. >> but democratic sources tell cnn. democrats in the caucus told him not to announce his own legislation. d immigration talks that sensitive. the president has a plan that is more liberal than the plan, including a quicker path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. >> the thing? conservatives not happy with that senate plan, saying it is a path to amnesty. but democratic senator chuck schumer speaking yesterday on the hill of new york, says, look, the time right now is perfect. >> we believe this will be the year congress finally gets it

done. politics on this issue have been turned upside down. first time ever, more political risk in opposing immigration reform than in supporting it. >> we're joined by white house correspondent brianna keilar, following the president's big moment on this issue. good morning, brianna. >> reporter: good morning, brooke and john. the president heading out west today. you may not know this, but he's had a plan, a brew print on immigration reform for almost two years now. it was seen more as a political message ahead of an election rather than a genuine push for change here. the thing is, now the administration thinks they may be able to accomplish something. >> in 2011, president obama went to the border town in el paso to push for comprehensive immigration reform. >> out of many, one. we define ourselves as a nation of imgrants. >> reporter: that went no where now in a second term, the president is trying it again.

heading to las vegas today to push for border security, a verification system for employers to ensure they hire documented workers, with punishment if they don't. and the most significant and controversial part of the plan, a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, including registering with the government, undergoing background checks, paying taxes and a penalty, and learning english. a solution has alluded past presidents, including george w. bush. >> congress' failure to act is a disappointment. >> reporter: president obama said that some undocumented young immigrants would stop. but he was taken to task at a town hall for not doing more. >> a promise is a promise, and with all due respect, you didn't keep the promise. >> what i promised, i would work

every single day as hard as i can to mange sure that everybody in this country, regardless of who they are, what they look like, where they come from, they would have a fair shot at the american dream. >> still, hispanic americans, the country's fastest growing voting bloc, helped propel obama to a second term. wakeup call for republicans. >> a lot of democrats want to solve this problem, fix this mess, broken immigration system and many of us agree with that. >> and you saw that yesterday on the hill. senate democrats and republicans, unveiling the bipartisan plan and brooke and john, another interesting thing. senate majority leader harry reid, where president obama will go today, s--1, the number one bill in the senate for immigration reform, signaling that this is a key priority. he did that for health care reform in the president's first term. >> that's right, brianna how important an issue this is.

brianna keilar at the white house. in a few moments, illinois senator dick durbin will speak to us. one of the so-called gang of eight. one of the key players in drafting the immigration reform in the senate. >> before we talk to him, let's bring in christine romans with the day's top stories. good morning. >> good morning to both of you. a wave of protests despite mohamed morsi's 30-day curfew. they took to the streets in cairo and cities along the suez canal where they attempted to storm a prison. at least 45 people, including civilians and soldiers have been killed in egypt over the past few days in separate clashes. our ben wedeman live in cairo. ben, what are protesters demanding? >> a variety of demands, some are unhappy with the constitution. that was implemented in the beginning of december. some are protesting against 21 people sentenced to death for their alleged involvement in

soccer riots a year ago. and many people are simply unhappy with the rule of mohamed morsi, who, of course, is backed by the muslim brotherhood. clashes have resumed in central cairo. really, the focus, in cities along the suez canal where the 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. curfew has been implemented for the next 30 days. we see that most people in the cities, simply are not obeying the curfew. >> ben wedeman in cairo as chaos grows in egypt. in brazil, police have arrested four people in connection with the deadly nightclub fire that killed 231. two of those in custody are owners of the kiss nightclub in santa maria, two others members of the band. the band playing at the club when the fire broke out. police say the band used pyrotechnics as part of the stage show. last night, mourners held a march in santa maria, released

231 white balloons into the sky, one balloon for each killed in the fire. john kerry expected to be confirmed as hillary clinton's replacement for secretary of state this morning. pretty much a slam dunk. his nomination is expected to sail through the senate. and dev al patrick will appoint someone to fill kerry's seat until a special election held in june. openly gay members may soon be allowed into the boy scouts. the boy scouts considering changing its long-standing policy. here is what the human rights campaign had to say. >> we would much rather that the boy scouts have adopted a national nondiscrimination policy, but this is definitely a step in that right direction. >> instead of specific national guidelines, the proposed new policy would allow local scouting groups to choose whether to allow gay members. take a look at this video.

seafoam, seafoam coming out of nowhere. windy conditions off the northeast coast of australia, turning up the seafoam. enough to hide a car. quick thinking police officers have jumped out of the way just in time. >> crazy weather in australia. >> fires, floods and the foam. >> this looks like a bubble rave, not that i have ever been to one. >> spring break, 1997? >> yeah, i don't remember it. the president unveils his own immigration plan a couple of hours ago in las vegas. two bipartisan committees have come together. one in the house, one in the senate, been making plans of their own. >> joined by senator dick durbin, democrat from illinois, and he is a member of that key group, the so-called gang of eight, in the senate, that announced yesterday's immigration reform package. good morning, senator.

>> good morning. >> so the president coming out with his ideas on immigration reform today in nevada, and there does appear to be a key difference between his notion and what you put on the table yesterday. have you called for a path to citizenship, only after verification that the borders are secure. the president does not seem to support that delay. he seems to want a path to citizenship much more quickly right away. how big of a difference is this? seems like a pretty big difference. >> it's a difference we can bridge. i was on a telephone conversation with the president and senator schumer sunday night. i think we have the same goals in mind, we share the same values, our approaches may be slightly different. the difference on the ground, we have to put together a bipartisan bill in the senate and the house, to send to the president it will look different than what i might right or the president might write. but it will reach the senate to make sure 11 million people living in america, have a path

to legalization first and then to citizenship. >> senator durbin, brooke baldwin. my question, when john talks about the contingency, the differentiating factor in your proposal versus the president. how do you determine if the border is secure enough? how does that happen? >> we would like to write the section in detail. but it's a task we understand has to be specific, objective. we need real metrics, just to say, well, when the boarder is "safe," not good enough. there have to be metrics we can measure. >> who measures that? who is in charge of that? >> ultimately, the department of homeland security will make that determination. local, elected officials will observe on the ground and be part of the conversation and process. we need their buy in, and we can get it as long as metrics are specific. >> how long would be too long to wait? from my own point of view, the sooner the better. we have invested $18 million on

border security. we're spending more on borders in combination with the secret service, fbi, and many law enforcement agencies. but we're seeing real results. some parts of the border, we can use new technology and the resources that are available. we can get an even better compliance. but i don't want this to drag on forever. >> you spoke to the president before releasing the gang of eight plan. there was jockeying over who would announce the plan first. there is this motion that the president may be a liability in dealing with republicans on this issue. do you think he makes it harder to compromise in the senate? >> not at all. the president is an essential part of this. and going back to the piece you ran earlier, i served in the senate with president obama. i sat in meeting after meeting when president obama part of the immigration reform debate. he's been committed to this as senate and president. an essential part of not only passing this and an essential part of making sure this is a

law that works in america. >> i was watching you standing on the hill. big news conference yesterday afternoon with senator schumer who said we overly optimistic, but there is still potholes to overcome. one would be from congressman lamar smith. "when you legalize those who were in the country illegally, it costs tax players millions of dollars, and millions of american workers thousands of jobs and encourages morrill legal immigration." how do you get a version of this through the republican controlled house? >> congressman smith's views on immigration are well known. he opposed any immigration reform. i would ask congressman smith, read what we're proposing. we're requiring that people pay their taxes, go through a criminal background check, have a job. back of the line in terms of new employment, back of the line in terms of citizenship, but making

certain that the 11 million now living in the united states in the suspended status have a future. make them part of the future, so long as they are good for the future of america, i believe they will. >> dirk durbin, thank you for coming in. this is the week, immigration reform really starting on capitol hill and in any today with the president. thank you, sir. >> thank you. and 12 minutes past the hour. 16 years after she die, new information about the jonbenet ramsey investigation. why a grand jury wanted to indict her parents, and why prosecutors didn't do it. lin wood joins us next. and what's coming up today in business. bailed out, but still getting big paychecks. yes, it's true. we'll tell you who is getting the biggest, coming up next.

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john benet ram kn na raet ramse. > a grand jury want to name john and patsy ramsey. >> but the d.a. said he didn't have enough evidence and failed to indict. >> the state of evidence in that case was inadequate to file a charge in my opinion. and obviously his opinion too. >> lin wood, an attorney that has handled multiple defamation cases on behalf of the ramramse. you have been in touch with john ramsey. what is his reaction to this? what is your reaction? >> john and patsy were told in 1999 that they should expect to be indicted. go back 15, 16 years, remember

there was a media frenzy of false accusations against this family. there was incompetent and incredulous police investigation on this. the investigation focused on day one on the ramsey family and refused to focus on the evidence that would lead to the killer of this child. they expected they would be indicted and they expected they would have their names cleared and be found innocent in front of the jury. if this is true, in terms what anonymous sources have said, it's a testament to the courage of the district attorney to stand up and fulfill his oath of office as a prosecutor and to not bring charges that would have resulted in a gross miscarriage of justice. because innocent people would have been charged with a crime they did not commit. >> he said everyone is sworn to secrecy. a local paper did speak to some jurors. he said "we didn't know who did wa

what, but we felt the adults in the house may have done something, and that they certainly could have prevented, or they could have helped her, and they didn't." they are saying that they somehow were involved, but not that they killed her. >> or saying as a grand jury that they did not know what happened. we do know if you fast forward nine years later, 2008, advances in dna technology in terms of e retrieval and testing led to dna evidence that exonerated the ramsey family that proved if this story is true, the dprand jury was wrong, and, again, i think elevated alex hunter to the status of hero for preventing the miscarriage of justice. >> how is it that the grand jury to say we want to indict and the district attorney to say we are not going to prosecute. >> a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich. and here there isn't even a

sandwich. i think had you a grand jury that was confused and could have had that cleared up if john and patsy ramsey could have testified before the grand jury. they offered to do so but were never allowed. >> this goes all the way back to 1996. is this one of the things that will forever be a misery and any given time, some reporter, some tidbit will come out and continue to haunt john ramsey? >> john ramsey and his son burke and other ramsey family members, this is going to impact the ramsey family for generations. because there is always going to be some reporter, like the reporter in this case, reporting has been inaccurate in the past, wants to seize that sensational headline to write and dispassenger this family. they have been exonerated and important for the public to recognize that the real blockbuster news was the dna

evidence found on this child's body on her clothing that clearly is the dna of the killer and perhaps hopefully one day we'll get a dna hit and the killer will be brought to justice. >> thank you so much for us in atlanta this morning. >> amazing, 16, 17 years, and we're still talking about it. ahead, crashes nothing new at the x games, but this one just awful. and it has a star fighting for his life this morning. we'll be right back. [ coughs ] [ angry gibberish ]

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year since january 1994, and in case you're counting, the dow up almost 800 points the past four weeks. the government's top bailout watchdog says the treasury department failed to curb executive pay that bailed out companies after the financial crisis. inspector general for the troubled asset relief program, or t.a.r.p. there is a continued lack of aappreciation for their extraordinary situations and fail to view themselves through the lenses of companies substantially owned by the u.s. government. all three companies say they complied with t.a.r.p. conditions. a new study by the center of college affordability says -- listen very carefully. about 37% of college graduates in the u.s. employed in jobs that don't need more than a high school dip month ma.

1 in 6 are bartenders, 1 in 7 are taxi drivers. in some degree categories, half of the kids are working either -- either not working or working part-time jobs that don't require a college education as they start paying back student loans. >> they need to gettthe educati. >> long term it pays off, but getting that first job is hard. 26 minutes past the hour. fing the gang of and eight, and now we'll hear the president's plan to overhaul immigration today. can he get republicans on board? marsha blackburn is here next with reaction. dangerous weather in the forecast, thunderstorms, a tornado, tracking those storms, next. ]

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welcome back to "starting point." in a few minutes, marsha blackburn is here. she reacts to the president and the gang of eight's immigration proposal. and getting ready for the super bowl. all exciting media day. >> christine romans with the rest of the day's top stories. skies could erupt across the south this morning. powerful thunderstorms and tornadoes, jennifer delgado tracking the extreme weather threat for us. >> anywhere you see gold shading, today we're talking about a slight risk for severe storms to produce tornadoes and damaging winds.

the area in orange, even greater threat. moderate category. anywhere from eastern texas including northern parts of louisiana to the boot hill of missouri. we are already tracking strong storms out there. a tornado watch in place until noon, central standard time and you can see where the box is, a lot of lightning out there. and also seeing good hail coming out of this. of course, we'll continue to see more of these storms developing as we go throughout the day. you can see the line trailing down toward parts of texas, and another low up toward the north. bringing storms that will move into chicago very shortly. a lot of lightning, and the same moving through michigan. this means a lot of delays as we go through today. but we're talking about heavy rainmakers in some parts of the midwest. we'll be looking at a flood threat and of course, christine, temperatures through parts of the upper plains, about 40 degrees below average by thursday. >> what a wild weekend. >> thank you, jennifer. >> be safe.

prognosis not good for snowmobiler caleb moore following a crash at the winter x games. the 25-year-old moore in critical condition at a hospital in grand junction, colorado. he had heart surgery on friday and he's dealing with a brain complication now as well. moore's grandfather tells "the denver post," "it's almost certain he is not going to make it." and jackson strong, competing in the best trick competition when his snow mobile went out of control and look at that, right through the snow fence and into the crowd. a fan hurt after getting pushed into a parked truck. that fan was treated and went home, thankfully. the mystery behind the boeing dreamliner's problems has not been solved. the entire fleet of state of the art dreamliners still grounded. japanese and u.s. investigators have found no issues with the

lithium batteries. the dreamliner after two issues prompted an aviation investigation. super bowl kicks into high gear with the craziness of media day. the baltimore ravens arrived today, a day after the 49ers, carlos is in new orleans. this is a matchup of brother versus brother. how is it shaping up? >> the har-bowl or the super bro. media day, you have to go media day. a lot of crazy people asking crazy questions. the big story of the super bowl. two brothers going at each other for the first time in super bowl history. you have brothers john harbaugh, who is coaching the baltimore ravens, against jim harbaugh coaching the san francisco 49ers. both teams have touched down. when they got here first, he at

the podium, very stone faced. happy to be here, stone faced here to win the game. what we'll do on gridiron. john harbaugh, when he hit the podium, he says we're happy to be here, having a good time. so obviously the older brother, john harbaugh, the more laid back one. never had to talk about the parents' press conference at any super bowl in the past, but we have that this year. coming up tomorrow, jack and jackie harbaugh, the parents of john and jim, married for 51 years, will have their own press conference so we can fin out where they are watching the game, who they are rooting for, who they are rooting against, how do they hanel having both sons in the big game? all of the questions answered tomorrow during their press conference. and on friday, the harbaugh brothers will have a joint press conference. >> i'm telling you right now, if i were one of the parents, i would be wearing a big hat, hiding behind a big foam one. the cameras will be on their

faces the whole time. thank you, carlos. >> fantastic harbaugh impressions, i have to say. >> the super bro, i like that. >> first one at media day at 5:00 a.m. it's media day! carlos by himself in that room. >> good stuff. thank you, christine. we'll check back in with you later. the big story, today is the day president obama kicks off the tour to push the plan to overhaul him grags, on the heels of the new senate plan. >> the senate plan, introduces a path to citizenship after the borders are secure, and after that, undocumented workers can apply for probationary legal status. they would have to pay fines and taxes. and a new employment verification system. >> we have learned that the president wants a quick path to citizenship. quicker than the senate's plan.

it doesn't require borders to be secured first. that could be a potential hurdle. let's bring in marsha blackburn from tennessee. >> good to be here. thank you. >> let's begin with, look, a lot of people talking about conservative house members such as yourself being the deciding factor in whether or not this things goes through. this is the year what are your thoughts on the senate plan? >> first of all, we're waiting to see what language is actually going to be. they have a construct, they have ideas, but don't have the legislative language. so we'll take a look at that probably next week. and i think what you will hear from the house, number one, let's make certain this is fair, let's make certain -- >> fair to whom? >> fair to those that have been in the you could queue to come country, fair to the american

taxpayer. that's item number one. bear in mind, the house has had a bipartisan working group that's been in place for about three years, and we should get a report from them next week. >> you say we don't know the details of the plan, but we have some of the answers to the questions you just raised. senator marco rubio insisted that the undocumented go to the back of the line. and there will be a path to citizenship here, which many republicans in the past and some democrats too, say no matter what you call it, this is amnesty. >> we want to make certain it is not amnesty. i have to tell you this is some of the particulars and the legislative language that people want to see. one of the lessons we have learned from decades past, decades, they have tried to address this issue, over the decades, it doesn't matter if it was clinton, reagan, what we've learned, if you grant amnesty, what do you get?

more amnesty. morri mo more llegal entry. let's make certain this will be fair, make certain we won't do something that will put more pressure on the obama care system and on the medicaid system that we have. that's an issue that's been raised by the health care community. >> we take you back to the original sticking point. the president's proposals and what we're hearing from the bipartisan group in the senate. big difference, phrasing from senator mccain, prerequisite, to you have to have the secure border and vis-a-vie dick durbin, saying through a commission of folks watching the border, reinforcing security, et cetera. you have to have that in order to begin the pathway to citizen shup. do you agree that has to be an

almost of t element of the plan? >> american people are sick of hearing about human trafficking, sex trafficking, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking. >> we have been hearing about this for so long. >> this is where some lessons should be learned. let's end illegalent trooe into the country, regardless of what the reason is. we have learned about some of the terrorist organizations that have encampments near our southern border and need to make certain we have secured that as tightly as we possible can. >> you will be sticking around with us for the rest of the show. we'll get back to the issue something a little bit lighter, tiny bit lighter, the president has said for the first time we think, that he likes skeet shooting up at camp david. you questioned whether -- first of all, you question whether that's true. not so sure he has been skeet shooting up there. >> he should invite me out. i want to know if he's shooting

with a .12 gauge or .20 gauge. i prefer a .20 gauge. >> you almost suggest he was making it up. >> no, i did not. i said let's -- you know, if you don't have the photos, this is a hobby, he should invite me to camp david. >> you believe it? >> i would think if the president said he's skeet shooting, i would like to know with what regularity he's out shooting play pigeons and like said, is he using a .12 or .20 gaining. >> if you go, you will provide pictures. >> i will take my own gun. a .20 gauge. >> you are guaranteeing victory against the president. >> i would never do such a thing. >> stick around. we will talk to you next hour. thank you very much. up next, a near miss caught on camera. what happens when a truck overturns in the path of a

motorcycle. look at that. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

good morning. welcome back to "starting point." i'm christine romans with a look

at your top stories. the bodies of dozens of young men now in the city of aleppo. it appears they were executed with shots to the head. and their bodies were dumped. this as rumblings come out of france that more intervention might be needed to end the carnage. ready for hillary, even if she's not. a group of hillary clinton supporters launching a super pac. they registered last week with the federal election commission and expect to have a website up and running in the next couple of days. before secretary clinton steps down officially, our jill dougherity and elise labotte will conduct her exit interview. a semi in china.

a few more feet, a few more inches, this would have been the end. tiger won the farmers insurance open in dominating fashion yesterday, tiger's 75th pga tour win. seven behind the record of sam snead. eighth win at torrey pines, including the 2008 u.s. open. >> torrey pines, one of the first big tournaments of the year. five of the times when he won at torrey pines, five of the times he has gone on to win a major later that year. >> what has changed? why is he doing well? >> got his game back. the par fives, scoring more on the par fives. >> john berman. >> spent a year of my life with tiger woods. >> did you really? >> after the scandal, so, yeah. >> should be discussed.

>> will be discussed later on. ahead, gone without a trace. a new york mother disappears in turkey. up next, michael grimm joins us with the latest on this family's desperate search. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thankyou card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up.

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the search is intensifying this morning for this american mother two of little one who's disappeared without a trace in turkey many. >> sarai sierra on vacation, traveling alone in istanbul. in regular contact with her family until last monday, the day before she was scheduled to return to new york. most of her belongings, including her passport were found in the room at the hostel where she was staying. her brother and husband are in turkey looking for her.

steven sierra shared what's going through his mind. >> the fear that i'm not there to protect her. you know. and that bothers me. that i'm not there to protect her. i don't want her to be afraid. >> family friends magdalena rodriguez well in your eyes, he looks so distraught. >> yes. >> how are you? how is he? he's there now in turkey. >> yes, him and his brother are there, and they're just getting everything set with the embassy and the consulate and the turkish police right now. >> what about this brings tears? >> it's hard. we talk to her every day, all day so not speaking to her has become very difficult. sorry. >> no, no. when is the last time you talked to her? >> i spoke to her on the 18th. she said she was back from amsterdam, she was spending the day in germany and will be back

in istanbul. i told her i love her and >> the congressman from staten island, how helpful have the turkish authorities been? >> very helpful. we have excellent relationships with the authorities in

istanbul. many of them trained with our fbi, the state department is all over this, they've elevated this to the highest levels, their chief on the ground is working very closely with them, so at every level from the ambassador's office to the consulate, everything has been elevated to the highest levels and they're taking this very seriously. it's a very safe city overall. if you look at istanbul it's a modern cosmopolitan city with a very low crime rate so this is something they really take to heart and when i spoke to the m ambassad ambassadors, i spoke to both of them the ambassadors talked about the humanity, this is a person, this is a mother and a sister and a daughter, and that's how they look at this, that someone's daughter is missing, someone's wife is missing. >> from everything i read she was planning on going over there with someone and that someone at the very last minute backed out. she decided istanbul is a beautiful city, she's a photographer, i'll go ahead on

my own. magdalena did she ever express any hesitation, worry in doing that? >> sarai is adventurous and she gets it in her mind she's going to do it. she did a lot of homework before she left, a lot of researching about the area, about where she was going to stay, the safest places to go, the time of days to travel. she wasn't out at night and the landlord's been able to confirm that. she was home, she was home by herself, so this isn't a party girl, this isn't a girl that was going out there to have good times. she was out there to check out the architecture and the culture and just to get her european trip in. >> congressman, the passport was found in the room left behind. are there any working theories as to what might have happened? >> as of right now it's still pretty much a mystery. one of the things we know sarai this is the first time she's traveled outside of the united states so she's not a seasoned traveler so it's not that odd she might leave her passport in

the room to get out and get something to eat or do quick shopping. someone that is seasoned knows you never leave your passport behind but since this is her first trip outside the u.s. i don't particularly see it as odd. she was sending pictures home, skyping almost every night. nothing that gave any indication there were any problems whatsoever, all of the things she planned to do she was doing and she was leaving early to surprise the children, she was very excited about surprising the children, no duress, nothing that would give us any indication there was a problem prior to her disappearance. >> so where does this go next? >> well, i can tell you that again, all authorities, everyone from the u.s. to the locals in turkey are working this as a missing person. they've elevated it to every level possible, the bureau chief of missing persons is looking, so i know that they're conducting a very logical investigation and they are pulling out all the stops. everything that can be done is being done at this time. >> do you think she's okay? >> i do.

i do. i don't think we can really think other than that. we're like really hopeful she's fine. she's a fighter. she's strong and she's smart, so we think she's okay. >> we hope she is as well. >> thank you, thank you. >> magalena rodriguez and congressman michael grimm thank you. >> thank you so much. still ahead on "starting point" we are hours away from hearing the president's plan for immigration reform. cnn's jake tapper will break it down for us coming up. plus new jersey senator bob menendez one of the so-called gang of eight how the president's plan is different from the senate's overhaul. >> and "silver linings playbook" director and senior writer david o. russlogical join us in the studio. >> right here. >> right here next to you. nect. the 100% natural no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. new nectresse.

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good morning everyone i'm john berman. >> and good morning i'm brooke baldwin. soledad is off for today. our starting point in a matter of hours president obama will be laying out his plan for immigration reform but already parts of it is causing controversy. and looking to the future, yes, we're going to go there, is hillary clinton prepared to leave the administration, what is next? one of clinton's former close advisers joins us. and talk about a lucky shot, we will hear from the guy who not only got check this out, boom! $75,000 for this but this huge hug, there it is from the lebron james after a pretty impressive half court shot. >> $75,000 and a priceless hug.

new jersey senator bob menendez, paul krugman and director of "silver linings playbook" david o. russell. it is tuesday, january 29th and "starting point" begins right now. what a team we have here today. republican tennessee congressman marsha blackburn and richard socarides and frank foer editor of "the new republic." >> we are a matter of hours from the president in nevada today unveiling his proposal, plan for immigration reform. >> democratic sources tell cnn talks sore delicate that democrats in the congressional hispanic caucus asked the president not to announce his

own legislation. "the washington post" says president obama has a plan and it is more liberal than the bipartisan effort announced in the senate yesterday. the president wants a quicker path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. >> here's the thing though, conservatives are not happy with the gang of let's plan, here they were unveiling this yesterday on the hill. they say this is a path to amnesty, senator john mccain explained why republicans now are stepping up. >> elections, elections, the republican party is losing the support of our hispanic citizens, and we realize that there are many issues in which we think we are in agreement with our hispanic citizens, but this is a preeminent issue. >> and our chief washington correspondent, you're like which one, jake tapper, following developments on immigration overhaul. nice to see you. >> good to see you thank you so much. hi, john. >> long time no see. >> i'm taller than him but somehow his chair is higher than

me i want to say. >> it's the special effects. lucas film gets in here and makes everything look different. >> immigration reform, jake tapper what should we expect to hear from the president today? >> you'll hear a lot of what has been said already by the president in 2011 during his big el paso speech outlining the steps. there's not going to be legislation as you pointed out, people on the hill trying to work out a compromise, president obama producing actual legislation could be more hindrance than help. >> a man of your age, jake, has known -- >> what am i, three months older than you. >> why is this night different than any other night? >> thank you for the passover illusion there. i don't know specifically that it is, because the problem is with house republicans last time in 2007 i was congressional correspondent for our former employer abc news and the house republicans were a problem, senate republicans were a problem. this time you may have more

senate republicans convinced we can't tell the largest growing population that we are not interested in their votes, but house republicans and i'm sure the congresswoman will have more to say on this, i'm not convinced there is a majority willing to support immigration reform. >> the president's proposal today is going to be even more progressive than the one, the bipartisan plan that came out of the senate, correct? >> he supports things that the bipartisan plan does not. for instance, the president's plan supports same-sex rights, rights for same-sex couples in this immigration reform, in the gang of eight plan it does not and then the president has a quicker path to citizenship, the gang of eight plan you have to secure the borders first before we talk about any sort of path to legal status. >> what about the politics of this, what about the gang of eight getting out in front of the president. why was that so important? >> i think it's so important because the president right now is not mr. bipartisan and the senators in the gang of eight, the four republicans and four

democrats have a better chance of getting something through that body if it's seen as a bipartisan effort and not president obama throwing something on the table saying pass this. >> what is his strategy in this? what role does he see himself and the white house and the bully pulpit play in propelling this forward? >> leave him behind almod from ? >> exactly or sit there hovering bludgeoning his plolitical opponents, reflecting the p pugnacity we've been talking about. >> it's a great point. this can be a bipartisan achievement because there are so many republicans who are convinced it's in their own interests to do this. right now, i think his position is going to be to hold back and it's almost like a threat position, he can be there ready to get involved, if the bipartisan negotiations don't work. i think that gooses the republicans and democrats on the hill to get something done

because they don't want president obama to come in there and perhaps mock it up. >> in lighter comparison to the tone in the inaugural speech. >> i think the greater reform calls for it. the pugnacity frank alludes to is real and he's also somebody who has a great deal of credibility with the latino community. if he comes out in favor of a plan that can help. >> great segue. jake, missed you, nice to see you. >> that's very sweet. >> what a bromance this morning. let's bring in senator bob menendez, democrat, new jersey who helped come up with the immigration reform plan. senator, good morning. >> good morning. >> let me begin with, we've been highlighting this morning sort of the differences between the president's proposals and that of your bipartisan group of senators the fact that among the senators in this blueprint the biggest difference this prerequisite per senator mccain this morning that there must be strong border security in order to then have a pathway to citizenship.

that's the biggest difference that i'm hearing. how big of a deal is that difference to you? >> well the reality is what we're talking about is verifiable substantive elements that we think are attainable and that ultimately would allow us to move forward on the pathway, and certainly i think border security is important. we've already done in this administration an enormous amount of border security. >> sir, define border security for me. >> but at the end of the day i think that what we're talking about is attainable and would not be an impediment to the pathway that i certainly seek as does the president. >> define border security, what does that look like? how long does it take to get there? >> well i think as i said we're building, senator mccain would say we've acknowledged that we've made tremendous progress, so the question is how do we use additional technology to enhance our border security.

how do we secure the entry/exit points for the border security and the commerce along the border states. we believe there can be specific substantive items that can be achieved and that's what we'll work towards in the legislation. if i believed at the end of the day this would just be a process for a veto towards achieving a pathway to citizenship, i would not have signed on to the principles. i think this is an important part of it and it will not be an impediment to achieving our goal of a pathway to citizenship. >> within this pathway to citizenship one of the things that seems to be agreed with senator rubio they'd have to get to the back of the line, that's the phrase people use but one group of people in your proposal doesn't have to go to the back of the line is the group of agricultural workers, they would get somehow preferred treatment. explain to me why. >> there's actually two groups

contemplated that would not necessarily have to wait until the back of the line. agricultural workers, what we called dream act students. recognition in the dream act students that they came here through no choice of their own, the only country they know is the united states, the only flag they pledge allegiance to is that of the united states, the only national anthem they know is "the star-spangled banner." on the ag side we have in many cases over a generation of workers who have picked our fruits and vegetables and we believe that as part of that, they deserve a pathway that may be accelerated compared to those who are otherwise undocumented in the country. >> senator menendez thanks for joining us. great to see you here, member of the gang of eight. representative blackburn, the agricultural workers get an accelerated path to citizenship, is that acceptable to you? >> no, that is not acceptable to

me. >> flat out? >> i think it's a more thoughtful perspective. i don't like that saying flat out. think about it like this, why don't we talk about a pathway to legality. why don't we talk about a pathway to a green card? why don't we talk about some other things rather than going straight to pathway to citizenship. is this fair to those that have been in the queue for a long, long time, going through the legal process trying to get into this country. that is going to be one of the key questions that i think members in the house are going to ask. what's the fairness component of this. being fair to the taxpayer, fair to those currently in the queue, fair to those that have been seeking to come here, ending illegal entry as the senator said, that is something that individuals want to see happen. ending that illegal entry into this country, whether it is going to be drugs or human trafficking or it's terrorists

or it's weapons, we want to make certain that our borders are indeed secured. there's been a lot of kicking the can on this issue. there has been a reticence to address this and my hope is that we will be very thoughtful in putting it on the table and working through some of these issues. >> i think what you just said are reasons really not to act. i think that there is a consensus -- >> i disagree with that. >> -- we have to do something and these are putting forward reasonable proposals and i know you for one will take a reasonable look at them. >> we have more time to talk about this. i promise we'll come back to in that in a bit. first christine romans with the top stories. >> the search is on for a u.s. air force fighter jet that may have gone down during a training exercise over the adriatic sea. the air force lost contact with the f-16 off the coast of italy.

coast guard vessels are searching through rain and snow, dealing with poor visibility. italy's news agency reports there's an oil slick, the u.s. air force says the pilot's condition is unknown. new developments in the nightclub fire in brazil that killed 231 people. police made four arrests and questioned 20 others in that case, two of those in custody are owners of the kiss nightclub in santa maria. the two others are members of the band that was playing at the club when the fire broke out. police say that band used pyrotechnics as part of its stage show and last night mourners held a march in santa maria, they released 231 white balloons into the sky, one balloon for each person killed in that fire. it looks like clear sailing for the man president obama wants as his next secretary of state, john kerry is expected to be confirmed this morning by the senate foreign relations committee and the full senate after that. when the confirmation is official the race for his senate seat kicks in.

massachusetts governor deval patrick will appoint someone to fill kerry's seat until a special election is held in june. back to you guys. >> thank you, christine. ahead on "starting point" it is her last week in office and oh yes we're jumping in on the 2016 chatter which is getting louder and louder. we are looking into nt cl clint hillary clinton's tea leaves with david gergen. plus his film wracked up eight oscar record "david o. russell of "silver linings playbook" joins us live. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit.

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clinton. nice to see you this morning, david. >> good morning. >> good morning. good morning all. >> so she's got this town meeting today secretary clinton does, she's also got a series of interviews, one after another after another after another. what's she doing here? >> she's having a wonderful farewell, and i think she's probably enjoying every minute of it and frankly, she deserves it. >> have other secretary of states done this in the past? we were trying to think this morning, or is this sort of a first, all these interviews and this very open -- >> i don't think we've ever seen a secretary of state have a farewell interview with the president of the united states sitting next to him or her on "60 minutes" that is a first so yes, this is basically unprecedented. the speech she's giving tomorrow is very important with the council on foreign relations on america's leadership in the world and that i think is a more traditional way of saying farewell, it's a time to sum up her views of where this country is going, where the world is going and what role we should

play. she's long believed we should have a more muscular role than perhaps her successor will have. we'll wait and see. >> david, seems the big shift a lot of people would like her to run for president, myself included but for a long time she said she was going to take it easy, now when asked about it she seems to say we have to wait and see. that's a big change, no? >> you're right. there's been a morphing that's been going on here, slight, subtle changes. i think the truth is she doesn't know. everybody who knows her well tells hee she hasn't made up her mind. i think there's going to be a question of her health, that she has to consider, and at some point she'll have to come forward and people will want to know what her health records are if she decides to run. she'll be under pressure to make a decision sooner rather than later. she can't wait maybe more than a year because there will be so

and more aspirettes. when gallup takes a poll of the most admired woman in the world, she has been number one for 11 straight years, 11 straight years, it's remarkable. the best record of any woman on the gallup polls which stretches back to 1948 so she's in a very powerful position but then she has to weigh that against another proposition and that is, she has to get some sense of how well the obama administration is going to perform this second term. if you think about it, since the roosevelt/truman years, we've had five occasions when one party has held the white house for eight straight years, and in the next election, the out party has won four out of those five, only in one instance when ronald reagan was succeeded by george h.w. bush did the end party win a second time. that depends to some considerable extent on the performance. does this economy come back,

does it remain anemic? what happens to jobs? i think the calculations are not as simple as it appears on the surface. and a little more time would perhaps give more clarity to our herat. >> is there anything from her record as secretary of state that could back to haunt her as a presidential candidate? >> i don't think so. the benghazi affair i think will long be forgotten unless there's some smoking gun we have no idea about. what will be chewed over, but a number of conservatives have now, like brit hume said her record of secretary of state is much less impressive than people are supposing but look at the public narrative, the public narrative, the public has basically concluded she did a very good job. yes, she didn't have a lot of big triumphs, didn't get a nobel prize for some particular break-through in the middle east but she's had a substantial record and the public looks upon her and the dignity with which

she carried herself, the fact that she and president obama did seem to go more from the team of rivals to the team of friends, all of that they are still in good standing and i think her record as secretary of state will be a strong plus not a minus. >> david gergen nice to see you this morning. thank you for joining us to join in the speculation. we're only too eager to talk about 2016. >> we mentioned the round of interviews and we want to tell you before secretary clinton actually steps down as we mentioned friday officially here, jill dougherty, annal annali labbot conduct her exit interview 4:00 eastern in "the situation room." up next from us, from hoax to helping hand, how this shocking and fake video of a baby snatched by an eagle went from viral video to helping a good cause. [ male announcer ] this year, make safety your top priority

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welcome back to "starting point." some of the stories trending on the web this morning, a world war ii veteran with a taste for burger king hamburgers had it his way during his own funeral. >> 88-year-old david kime from pennsylvania apparently loved whopper jr.s so, so much so that after he died from a heart attack, his family arranged one last drive through the drive-thru and then onward they went to his funeral procession. >> i love that. that's sort of my favorite story. a wounded warrior who lost his arms and legs in 2009 fighting in iraq is recovering from a double arm transplant. >> incredible. >> doctors performed the surgery on brendon marrocco in baltimore. he has made a few comments about it on twitter already. he says his new arms already

move a little and that "i feel like i finally get to start over." >> that is my favorite story. hopefully we can talk to him, too. you remember the viral video claimed to show the eagle swooping down to grab this baby. the video hoax was created by three students at an animation and design school up in montreal. the school says the money generated by the video, now used to pay for a new scholarship program, no word yet from school officials on what almost 42 million hits add up to in terms of dollars and cents, 42 million watching that. >> they were on the show, cool, cool kids. >> what were they saying? >> they're amazing, into technology. they want to make movies in the future and i think they have the minds to do it. >> hoaxsters. >> good for them we say. what would president obama's immigration plan mean for the economy? we have a nobel prize winning economist and they're not a dime a dozen. >> no, they're not. >> "new york times" paul krugman is live next.

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28 minutes past the hour here, welcome back to "starting point." in a matter of minutes, is he a nobel prize winning economist. >> not me. >> his ideas on the deficit getting a lot of attention, not you. "new york times" columnist paug krugman is here live. he's one of hollywood's most sought after directors, david o. russell here to talk about "silver linings playbook." >> and christine romans with more of the day's top stories. >> good morning again to you. wave of new protests in egypt overnight despite that president mow head morsi's 30-day curfew. demonstrators took to the streets in cairo and the suez canal where they clashed with police. 45 soldiers and police have been killed in the past two days in

the separate clashes. the search intensifying for an american mother who disappeared without a trace in surky. sarai sierra was traveling alone on vacation in istanbul. she was in regular contact with her family until last monday. the following day she never checked back into her flight at new york. sarai's husband and brother are in turkey now searching for her. the prognosis is grim for snowmobiler caleb moore who suffered serious injuries last thursday at the crash at the winter x games. the 25-year-old moore is in critical condition at a hospital in grand junction, colorado. he had heart surgery friday and dealing with brain complications as well. live pictures of an oil explosion, you can see the signal going in and out. two people were hurt, the fire

marshal says two victims were smoking on the top when they caught on fire. the male suffered burns to his face, legs and arms and the female suffered injuries placing her on life support. the facility still in flames there. after walking the red carpet at s.a.g. awards taye diggs caught a burglary red handed in his home. he found this guy in a garage looking for stuff to steal. the suspect fled, diggs ran him down, tackled him and held him until the police arrived. >> he thought he was just going to an awards show. >> christine thank you. is he one of the most famous economists in the world and leading liberal vice this morning. paul krugman is joining us. >> he's author of "end this depression now!" it's a pleasure to have you at the table. >> hi there. >> nice to see you.

>> there is so much we want to talk about, in one of your columns you were talking about the deficit quoting you not our biggest problem by a long shot. we have to ask you about immigration because obviously a couple hours away from the president and his proposals in vegas. as an economist take your emotions out of this, as an economist can you support this pathway to citizenship? >> first of all i support it as a human being. these are a lot of people who are here, we're not actually going to kick them out. we want to bring them into our society and that's good economically. again, the question is not should we have these 11 million people here. they're here and we're not going to send them back. you who do they best integrate into our economy and society? the answer is by bringing them under the rule of law, bringing them into our system, not by pretending they're not here or trying to have this sort of shadow economy of illegal workers. bring them into the system, that's good for everybody. >> one of the things being a columnist you leave a long paper trail, and in 2006 you wrote

this about the immigration issue, "immigration since 1980 has raised the total income of native-born americans by no more than a fraction of 1% and because mexican immigrants have much less education than the average u.s. worker they increase the supply of less-skilled labor, driving down the wages of the worst-paid americans." so again from an economic standpoint what will the effects be of bringing these people legally into our economy? >> again the point is all of those negative effects that i talked about, those are happening already, those people are already here and we're not going to send them back and it would be a crime against humanity to try and somehow send them to the border and shoo them out. so the economic effects are already in there and by the way immigration if you aren't torn about the immigration issue, there's something wrong with you, because on the one hand it does put some burden on the least skilled lowest paid native-born americans. on the other hand it's a tremendous boon to the immigrants themselves.

there are no moral dilemmas because the people are here, we're not talking about allowing a new flood of immigration. we're talking about bringing immigrants already here into the american system. >> you're saying if you are torn there's something wrong. >> no, if you're not torn. the immigration in general is a morally ambiguous issue, should be considered a morally ambiguous issue. we don't have to resolve that issue right now. >> in 1986 ronald reagan thought they fixed this, put people in a line and end the line. whenever you have a line the economic draw of a job and the ability to raise your standard of living more than you could do anyplace else in the world by just coming here, how do you stop the line of illegal immigration? >> well it's never going to go away completely but actually illegal immigration, we have numbers in immigration which is a little bit funny because in principle we shouldn't know but we have a pretty good guess and it's actually dropped off quite a lot, partly because job opportunities are not so great here, partly because mexico is

changing, there is in the northern parts of mexico the economy is improving, their population is aging, this is a problem that won't go away but looks like a problem that's going to diminish. the big problem is how do we deal with the people already here? we're moving in the right direction. >> bigger numbers than in '86. >> one of the things we've been writing and talking about is the debt, the idea of what we should do about the debt or not do about the debt. one of the things you seem to be suggesting we should not do is aggressively try to cut it before doing other things. i'm sure everyone's going to want a piece of this action right now but i'll ask you to explain yourself first. >> the main thing is we are the depressed economy, particularly we are in an economy where normally if you cut government spending that's going to have a depressing effect on the economy but you can offset that having the federal reserve cut interest rates. the fed can't do that because interest rates are zero, because the economy is so depressed they put the pedal to the metal. there are major economic impacts

from any kind of attempt at fiscal austerity which says this is not the time to do it. later, once the economy is recovered, we're on the road to recovery, we're not there yet but later you do it. this is, you know, this is very basic economics. >> marsha is shaking her head. >> i understand where you're coming from, your train of thought but i really disagree with this because when, it doesn't matter if i am in california or new york or tennessee in my district. what i hear from individuals that are job creators and new start businesses is regulatory overreaching uncertainty is an impediment, lack of capital is an impediment. much of this is driven by uncertainty that exists in washington and out of control federal spending, and they want to see some kind of framework to bring this under control so the time to do it is now.

>> if you want to bloo ef that i can't talk to you out of that. the overwhelming answer is lack of sales, not this other stuff and we also have, we can actually compare business investment turns out is actually doing pretty well, relative to, given this depressed state of the economy, business investment response to the state of the economy, given that business investments actually are pretty strong. there's no hint in the actual data as opposed to what people who might want lobbying concessions say there's no hint in the actual data that all of these issues that loom so large in our political conversation are playing any role. >> i disagree with that. >> it's just that we don't have enough spending in this economy. >> the follow-along question to lack of sales is what is driving lack of sales? it is uncertainty, it is lack of capital. it is just a fear of what is happening in washington, taxes that are going up. let me tell you, you're talking to somebody that worked her way through college selling books door to door. i know what drives sales.

>> that's just not true. we just had the biggest bubble in american history burst, u.s. households borrowed heavily to finance that housing bubble pulling back because of an excess of debt. why do we need to reach for other explanations? this is the most transparent economic crisis i've ever seen in my lifetime. >> let me jump in and try to give an analogy. instead of talking about the u.s. economy we're talking about a person or american family. can we do this? >> that's the famous fallacy, because if you're a household and you say okay i'm going to tighten my belt because times are hard, fine that's the right thing you should do. the thing about the economy is that money moves in a circle. my spending is your income. your spending is my income. if both of us decide we need to cut back because times are tough, the end result is we actually end up reducing both of our incomes, with he make ourselves -- that's how depressions happen is because the economy adds up, because it's very different. an individual family can do stuff that if everyone tries to

do at the same time it ends up being destructive. this is why we have a government which at a time when families do need to repair their balance sheets can sustain the economy until families are in better shape. >> what about 20 years from now? >> 20 years from now i'm a deficit hawk but 20 years from now or you know looking about where we're going to be but not while the economy is the at the bottom, not at a point when -- look, there's a lot of growing evidence now that even in purely fisc fiscal terms -- >> no time like the present. >> no. cutting back is disruptive. lot of the worker also never get reemployed, they'll never pay taxes, at least to lower business investment, the biggest thing holding down business investment is the weak economy, lower economic capacity, lower taxes in the future and remember the federal government can borrow at the lowest interest rates pretty much ever in history right now and it can, if inflation protected federal bonds have got a negative interest rate -- >> how much hate mail do you

get? >> i got to be the national champion on that. >> you haven't convinced representative blackburn here. >> no. >> and the climate is where people are talking about cutting back if not flat out cutting spending. you're not going to convince everyone. >> i'm never going to convince everyone. are we going to get the stimulus plan i would like? no, we're not but have we managed to move the conversation, have the prospects for another damaging round of short-term spending cuts dm diminished? i think they have. you can see measurably if you follow this stuff, if you read the complaining editorials from the deficit schools you can see they have the feeling they're losing this argument. >> is the economy getting better? >> yes, the economy is getting better slowly and that's part of the point. this is not a permanent condition. the housing bubble burst seven years ago. we build very few houses. housing is coming back.

we're on the upswing but not there yet. >> we'll quit on a good note then the economy is getting better. paul krugman. >> from our future deficit hawk paul krugman. >> thanks so much. >> that's fascinating. coming up "silver linings playbook" is nominated for eight oscars, best picture, actor, actress and its director david o. russell getting acad me nods as well. he is here. rockin' the sneakers, i like it. good to see you again. >> good to see you, too. how are you? >> we're chatting in a moment. yeah...i heard him. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't.

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he really is one of hollywood's hottest directors, we mean that in every way. one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year. >> david o. russell nominated for eight oscars at the academy awards february 24th, stars bradley cooper as a bipolar man struggling to put his life back together. >> might have made you feel worse about your behavior but i didn't know anything. i didn't know how to handle it. i mean it's about us spending time now.

i'm going to do everything i can to help you get back on your feet. >> that was just one clip. he's asking everyone, have you seen my movie? have you seen my picture? this is david o. russell joining us, and i can't believe i get to run into twice in a couple of weeks hanging out on the red carpet at the golden globes a couple weeks ago and it was fascinating talking to you then, here we were. reiterate how this is. you talked about your son and why this was very personal for you this film. >> yes, five years ago i was given the book that i based it on and i was looking for a story that could make my son who had struggled with mood disorder feel part of the world, this is a real story, just to me and bradley cooper became this person. i don't think, he just knocked me out. he became my son with all these changing moods and feelings in a way that brought my heart out so i was blessed to work with him. >> you don't really get to work with good performers very much, do you? i'm going facetious.

four actors nominated for academy awards, mark wahlberg, actor after act yofr. how do you work with people this big and talented in the business? >> in you come from your heart and a humble place and write a script you really mean, it took me five years to write this and i tried to make it for five years and every single character i look at every character, the movie from every single character's point of view so robert de niro's point of view as a father, jackie weaver, jennifer lawrence, it was a blessing because five years ago jennifer was in high school and knocked us out as an actress in this picture. >> we were talking before, i saw this movie right around christmas, this is by far not only my favorite movie of the year but in many years. it's such a beautiful film and it's about so many life-affirming things, starts out as a serious movie about mental illness and becomes a comedy and then becomes a romance. how did you like get all that stuff in this movie? >> well i think the story itself

was something that i really related to, the fact it has romance in it and dance but if you come by it honestly as my favorite director's frank capper scorcese says it's real. by my son's life it's by doing and many families who have struggled with any of these challenges, there are families fighting for their lives every day with the issues silently, quietly, bravely, and feeling in the shadows not able to talk about it. you must do things, life goes on. >> you talked about the very personal nature of this film. how did making this movie reshape your understanding of your own son and your relationship with him? >> i think that it made everybody feel more relaxed and more part of the world, so that we weren't living in our own stigmatized corner of the world, and more embraced, and "silver linings" is what i learned from him. everything i learned from him

applies to everybody else. i can't go toward the negative attitude. >> we were talking about the film you're working on that will go back to the abscam situation but you talked about focusing on the relationship. so what draws you to writing a script, doing a film that bases on that relationship? so many people go for the big storyline, so why do you kind of dig down? what causes you to do that? >> characters are what interest me more than anything else. there are a lot of beautiful movies. hours is about performance and characters, individual people i could watch all day, those are the people that inspire and fascinate me. >> you live out that character development american -- >> yes, and then there's a theme that has to hit home and mean a lot to me and in the fire it was you could never give up and sort of the thing here and if you come by with people you feel it. >> what does the o. stand for? >> oscar? >> whoa! >> boom! >> leave it at that. just smile and walk away.

it's great to see you here this morning. thanks for coming in. >> thank you. just in to the cnn newsroom hearing the crew laugh as well. huge announcement from apple. holy half court shot hear from the guy who banked that hook shot and then just got flattened over by lebron james, oh, and he goes down! ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the all-new cadillac xts... another big night on the town, eh? ...and the return of life lived large. ♪ something this delicious could only come from nature. new nectresse. the 100% natural no-calorie sweetener

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just in to cnn, ap.al announced a new ipad, this one will have 128 gigs of memory t is twice as large as the current device. >> you heard people running to the apple store to line up. hear from a man who made a once in a lifetime shot and got

a really, really big hug from a superstar. >> kind of awesome. >> michael dreisch won $750,000 but that's not the good news. he was tackled by lebron james after. we asked the computer technician what he's going to do with all of that money? >> after taxes i'm going to pay bills and see my mother in utah, she's an alzheimer's, has alzheimer's and my sister's taking care of her and my brother is there so get out there and see where it goes from there. >> nice guy. he won $75,000, i gave him a little more unintentional. brooke will pay the difference. cnn is looking at the football game and what effects it helps with players on and off the field. >> former detroit lion lamar campbell is still dealing with

damage from the game. >> reporter: lamar campbell has achieved what many young men dream of. he made it to the pros. injuries ended his nfl career but campbell successfully found a new life after the game as a real estate broker. >> welcome back to "life after the game." >> reporter: and radio talk show most on the voice america network a platform he uses to educate other players about transitioning to life after football as well as the dangers of injuries you can't see, repeated hits to the head. >> i don't think we thought that you had a concussion until you were knocked out on the field. >> reporter: as a player he didn't know that concussions can cause serious injury to the brain. now campbell says playing football takes years off a players' life. he's also suffered some memory loss. >> there were situations where i don't remember certain series. i would be out there and not realize exactly what was going on. >> reporter: while he was never diagnosed, looking back, campbell believes he's had over ten concussions in his football

career and he believes players today need to recognize the symptoms and be willing to let their brains heal. year ago, campbell considered donating his brain for research in chronic traumatic ense encephalopathy. >> it was just a matter of timing when to tell my family. >> a few months ago he sent the papers to boston university. for him it's all about giving back to the game, making it safer for future generations including his son, should he follow in his dad's footsteps. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! ♪ wow. [ buzz ] delicious, right? yeah. it's the honey, it makes it taste so...

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